Russian Roulette
by SarahandBabees
Summary: AH. Oneshot. Rose Hathaway is a troubled teen who truly believes that the world would be better off without her. She feels alone and that her life has no value, so she decides to gamble it in a game of Russian Roulette. Will luck be on her side?


_A/N: Hello, my lovelies :) if you've clicked on this, then you're awesome. :D_

_So, I've been working on this oneshot for like, a month...I started it a while ago, and then I kinda forgot about it...but I finally finished it the other night xD It's pretty random, but then again, most of the stuff I write is :P_

_Anyways, I'll let you get to the actual oneshot now xD_

_~ Sarah Ozera ~_

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><p><em>DISCLAIMER: I, Sarah, do not own Vampire Academy, its plot, or its characters. They belong to the brilliant red-haired author, Richelle Mead. The song Russian Roulette doesn't belong to me, either. It belongs to Rihanna. I only own my idea for this random oneshot :)<em>

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><p><em><strong>Russian Roulette<br>**__**by Sarah Ozera  
><strong>Rose's POV  
><em>_~ "Take a breath, take it deep.  
>Calm yourself," he says to me.<br>_"_If you play, you play for keeps.  
>Take the gun and count to three."<br>I'm sweating now, moving slow.  
>No time to think, my turn to go<em>

_And you can't see my heart beating  
>You can't see it through my chest.<br>Said I'm terrified but I'm not leaving  
>I know that I must pass this test,<br>__So just pull the trigger_

_Say a prayer to yourself  
>He says, "Close your eyes, sometimes it helps."<br>And then I get a scary thought  
>That he's here means he's never lost<em>

_And you can't see my heart beating  
>No you can't see it through my chest.<br>Said I'm terrified but I'm not leaving  
>Know that I must pass this test<br>So just pull the trigger_

_As my life flashes before my eyes  
>I'm wondering will I ever see another sunrise?<br>So many won't get the chance to say goodbye  
>But it's too late to think of the value of my life<em>

_And you can't see my heart beating  
>No you can't see it through my chest.<br>Said I'm terrified but I'm not leaving  
>Know that I must pass this test<br>And you can't see my heart beating  
>Oh you can't see it through my chest<br>That I'm terrified but I'm not leaving, no  
>Know that I must pass this test<br>So just pull the trigger ~_

I held the gun tightly in a hand, so tightly that my knuckles had gone white. My heart was racing, my palms sweating as I thought about what I was about to do.

Was I brave enough?

Could I do it?

Would anyone care?

I wasn't sure about the first two, but I was damn sure about the last one. I was Rose Hathaway, teenaged delinquent. No one would care if I died, not even my own mother. In fact, she'd probably be happy that she didn't have to deal with me anymore. Lissa might care, but she had Christian. She'd be better off without me, anyway.

But was I ready to gamble my own life?

I didn't know. I didn't know how I even ended up in this place, playing Russian Roulette in a smoky, musty-smelling back room.

Well, maybe I did.

I'd purposely come here, to to this sleazy party, because I knew that they played here. I mean, I had nothing to lose. My boyfriend had broken up with me, my mom hated me . . . so what was I left with? Nothing.

As soon as I'd arrived, I'd started to dance with the first guy that I saw. He was cute; he had messy sable brown hair, and the most amazing green eyes I'd ever seen. His appearance screamed money, with designer jeans and a black button-up shirt. Paired with the bad boy "I'm better than you" smirk on his face and the cigarette hanging out the side of his mouth . . . he was mouthwatering.

He seemed to think that I was worth looking at as well, judging by the way that his eyes raked up and down my body. I could imagine what he saw: long brown hair that flowed like a deep brown waterfall down my back. In the dim lighting, it probably looked black. Equally dark brown eyes that meshed well with my skin color, which was like the inside of an almond. Tight black jeans and a red corset top to emphasize my curvacious body, with a leather jacket to complete the outfit.

"What's your name, beautiful?" he asked, his voice a throaty purr in my ear..

I put on my best man-eater smile. "Rose," I replied. "Yours?"

He grinned. "Adrian." He pulled my body closer to his as we danced. "What are you doing here, beautiful? You're too pretty to be in a place like this."

"Trying something new," I told him, my tone flirtatious. "You?"

"Oh, I'm a regular at this party," he said, dropping a wink at me.

I raised my eyebrows. "Really? Because you look to pretty to be in a place like this."

"Are you mocking me?" he questioned, eyebrow raised.

"Maybe," I said slowly, drawing the word out and smirking. "And if I am?"

He leaned in closer. "Well, then I might have to punish you." His lips were only a breath away from mine, maybe an inch or two, and I leaned in a little closer, like I was going to kiss him, only to suddenly turn away from him at the last minute.

"I'm shaking in my high-heeled boots," I joked, wiggling my fingers.

His arm snaked around my waist and he jerked me back toward him. He smirked.

"Aren't you a feisty one," he observed. He leaned in to whisper in my ear, and his breath made me shiver. "I like feisty girls. They're good in bed."

A sultry smile pulled up one corner of my lips. "I guess you're in luck, then." I grabbed the back of his neck, pulling his face down to mine. "Because I'm _amazing_ in bed."

He kissed me hard, then. I moaned, my hands creeping up into his hair and gripping it hard.

We ended up making out in a corner for a while. I barely knew him, but he made me forget Dimitri, if only for a little while.

Dimitri, who'd broken my heart.

He'd said that we needed a break, because he thought that I needed time to sort myself out. What a load of crap. He probably just dumped me so that he could fuck the slut, a.k.a. Tasha, without feeling guilty about it.

I thought he'd been different than all of the other guys I'd dated. I mean, he understood me like no one else did, not even myself. I thought he'd be the one I'd spend forever with.

Guess I was wrong.

At some point, Adrian and I split, each going off to do our own thing. I made my way through the twisting halls to the door I'd been told to go to, knocking four times to signal what I was there for. The door opened almost immediately, revealing a big buff guy.

"What do you want?" he asked.

I cleared my throat. "I'm here to play."

He grunted and stepped aside so that I could enter.

I looked around the small room. The walls were paneled in wood, with darker hardwood flooring. A cloud of cigarette smoke hung in the air, saturating the room with its toxic scent. An underlying scent of must was discernible, like the scent of an old basement.

And in the center of the room was a half-circle of people. There was one other girl, and she looked nervous as hell, twirling a strand of her golden ponytail around her index finger. She looked to be around my age, if not younger. Next to her were two guys; one with fiery hair, the other with lovely hazel eyes. The three looked out of place here, though they were probably thinking the same thing about me.

I sat beside the girl. Her head turned and she briefly assessed me, her deep blue eyes scrutinizing, before turning away once more, still twirling her ponytail around her finger.

Another guy came in moments later and sat on the other side of the red-haired guy. He was definitely attractive, with bronze-colored hair and sea green eyes.

Finally, the door opened one last time, revealing the last person I'd expected to see.

"Adrian?" I questioned.

"Rose? Didn't know you were into this," he said, grinning as he sat next to me.

"I told you: I'm trying new things."

"Guess you are." He cleared his throat. "So, everyone knows what's going to happen, right?" There were nods from everyone, including myself.

The big guy that guarded the door produced a gun from a holder on his belt. He loaded one bullet, spun it around, and handed the gun to the red-haired guy.

Taking a deep breath, he raised the gun to his temple, closed his eyes, and pulled the trigger.

He breathed a sigh of relief when nothing happened, quickly handing the gun to the boy with the hazel eyes. He did the same, with the same outcome as the boy before him.

The little blonde girl was next. She reached out with a shaking hand to take the gun, clasping it tightly as she raised it to her head. She looked like she was about to cry, her lips moving in a silent prayer as she pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened. A relieved giggle escaped her as she held the gun out for me to take.

Suddenly, this was all too real to me. I was playing with my life, here. But I took the gun anyway.

And that brings us back to now.

"Just take a breath, Rose. Calm yourself," Adrian said to me. "Close your eyes and count to three. Sometimes it helps."

Sweat beaded on my forehead. Panic bubbled up inside of me. I couldn't do it. A thousand thoughts were running through my mind, buzzing like angry bees.

Adrian had said that he was a regular at this party, and he seemed to be in charge. Which meant that he'd been playing for a while . . . and that he'd never lost. And that terrified me, because in that moment, I only had a one in three chance of living.

"Just do it, Rose. Pull the trigger," he urged.

I gulped. I thought of Lissa, how devastated and angry she'd be if I died this way. Christian might be sad, too. Maybe even Dimitri. How mad would they be if I never said goodbye?

A random thought came to me: Would I ever have the chance to see the sun again?

_Stop it,_ I told myself. _This isn't the time to second-guess this. You made the decision to come here, and dammit, you're going to do this._

I shut my eyes tightly and counted to three.

_Dimitri's POV_

When I'd gotten Lissa's frantic call, I hadn't believed the words she was saying. They were too crazy.

Lissa told me that Rose had gone to a really bad party. A party where they played Russian Roulette. A friend of Christian's was there, and he'd seen her.

"And he's sure it isn't just someone who looks like Rose?" I asked, hoping it wasn't the case as I shut the door of my truck and started it.

"He's sure it's her. Dimitri, you have to stop her!" Lissa sobbed. Her voice suggested that she was bordering on hysteria.

"I'm leaving now," I told her, hanging up and turning out of the driveway.

I now drove to the address she'd given me, hoping and praying to whoever was listening that I'd be fast enough. I couldn't lose her, not like this.

Images of her, cold and dead, a bullethole in her head with the gun still held loosely in her hand flooded my mind. The main that I felt from just imagining it was too much; if she actually died, the pain would probably kill me, too. Rose was my reason for living.

When I was younger, I had a really bad life. My father was abusive; he beat us, though my mother always got the worst of it.

One night, when I'd come home from a friend's house, I'd found my mother dead on the floor, all bloody and battered. My father stood over her, a cruel smirk on his face. My sisters hadn't been home, luckily, so they hadn't seen it, and they hadn't seen what I'd done to my father after. I'd beaten him until he was unrecognizable.

My father now rotted in a jail cell somewhere, and my younger sister Viktoria and I lived with our grandmother. The other two were much older, out on their own with their own families.

I was stupid to have broken it off with Rose. I mean, I thought that she needed some time alone to sort her life out, but I'd been wrong. The two of us were stronger together, but I'd mistakenly thought she'd be better off without me and my problems.

I was obviously wrong.

I parked in the first place I saw, not caring that it was a no-parking zone. I just needed to get to Rose.

I ran inside and looked around. The place was sleazy-looking, with scantily clad women practically throwing themselves at the men. The fact that Russian Roulette was played here honestly didn't surprise me.

I went up to the person who was bartending. She was young, probably my age, with a golden tattoo of a lily that shone when the light hit it.

I got straight to business.

"Where are they playing Russian Roulette?" I demanded.

She feigned innocence. "I don't know what you're talking about."

With a growl, I pulled a twenty dollar bill out of my pocket and slammed it down in front of her. "Don't bullshit me," I warned.

Shrugging, she took the bill, folded it, and stuffed it in her bra.

"Down the hall, around the corner. It's the last door on the right," she told me.

Without thanking her, I took off down the hallway and to the door she'd told me to go to. A tall, muscular man stood guard there.

"I need to get in there," I informed him.

"Sorry, I can't allow that," he replied in a clipped tone.

With a roar, I jerked him out of the way, punching him in the face and slamming his head into the wall without missing a beat. He slumped to the ground, unconscious.

I burst through the door just in time to find Rose with her eyes closed tightly, a gun held up to her head.

Her eyes snapped open, and upon seeing me, her mouth full open. Shocked, she dropped the gun.

"Dimitri?"

Oh, how I'd missed her voice. It was so musical, so beautiful. I could never tire of hearing it.

"Roza," I breathed.

Her expression hardened upon hearing the nickname I'd given her. She lifted the gun once more.

"Don't call me that. You lost that right when you dumped me for that dumb slut," she spat.

"Dumb slut? Rose, what are you talking about?" I asked, thoroughly confused.

"Don't play dumb, Dimitri. You know exactly what I'm talking about. I'm not stupid, you know. I know that you broke up with me to be with Tasha."

"No! God, Rose, I'd never do that. I don't like Tasha like that. I love you, and only you," I explained.

She chuckled humorlessly. "Oh yeah? Then why did you break up with me? Am I too messed up for you?" she demanded.

"No, Roza―"

"It's Rose!" she exploded.

I swallowed hard. "Rose, I thought you needed time alone to sort things out. Breaking up with you was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, and it always will be."

And she was about to retort, a brown-haired man that sat beside her held up a hand.

"Sorry to interrupt this happy reunion, but we're kinda busy," he snapped, glaring at me.

I glared right back. "Too damn bad. Come on, Rose. Please, don't do it." If I lost her . . . I'd die. Because there's no way in hell that I'd live without her.

She pressed the gun to her temple. "Sorry, D, but I came here to do this. You know me―I finish what I start."

I knew that I had about two seconds before she pulled that trigger. So I did the only thing that I could.

I dove for her just as she was pulling the trigger. The gun fired, but instead of the bullet going through her head, it hit something else.

I heard a muffled cry, but it didn't come from Rose. I knew that for sure because I'd landed on top of her. No, it came from someone else.

I turned my head to investigate.

My eyes immediately landed on the man who;d spoken. He clutched his throat, and dark blood spurted through his fingers and dripped from his mouth. He looked like he was trying hard to talk or breathe or something, but he couldn't. He slumped forward, going silent after a moment.

Rose gasped from underneath me, burying her face in my chest. She began to shake terribly.

"Oh . . . oh God, Dimitri. Oh God. If you . . . if you wouldn't have knocked my hand away―"

I silenced her with a finger over her lips. "Let's get out of here," I said gently, pulling her slowly to her feet. She only nodded, shaking hard.

I led her out through the front door and helped her into my truck. She shivered violently, tears falling down her face and smearing her makeup.

I walked around the front of the truck and got in the driver's side. I didn't start the truck; not yet. I needed to talk to her.

"Th-thank you for stopping me," she managed to say, her teeth chattering violently. I grabbed my coat off the seat and wrapped it around her shoulders. Her hands grabbed at it, pulling it tightly around herself.

I nodded, trying to figure out what to say next. I decided to just get it all off my chest.

"Rose, why the hell would you decide to play Russian Roulette?" she opened her mouth to reply, but I stopped her. "No, let me finish." She nodded. "Rose, that was extremely stupid of you! If a friend of Christian's hadn't recognized you and told Christian, then Lissa wouldn't have called me and you would be dead right now." I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Do you have any idea how terrified I was? Because if I lost you, Rose . . . then I'd die. You're everything to me, Rose. Everything."

She sniffled. "If I was everything to you, then you wouldn't have left me for Tasha."

I sighed in exasperation. "Roza, I told you that nothing happened! I broke up with you because I thought you'd be better off without me and my baggage. It hurts me to know that you think that little of me."

Her eyes brimmed with tears again. "I . . . I'm sorry. There, I said it. I'm sorry that I'm stupid and insecure and―"

I pulled her to me and kissed her hard, cutting her off. She collapsed into me, returning the kiss with fervor.

I poured every emotion I'd felt since breaking up with her into that kiss: anger, self-loathing, despair, loneliness, depression and sadness. I could feel the same emotions within her, and I wanted to take them all away.

I was the one to break the kiss. I rested my forehead against hers, trying to catch my breath.

"I want you to listen to me, Roza. I love you more than life itself. Hell, I love you more than that. You are the only thing that matters to me, and I want you to never forget that. I was stupid to break up with you, because we;re stronger together than we are apart. If you'll have me, I promise to never break you heart again," I told her, linking my fingers through hers.

She sighed. "Dimitri, you hurt me. I needed you, and you left." I started to pull away, knowing that a rejection was coming, but her small hand rested on my cheek and kept me there. "But I love you, Dimitri. I can't live without you. I don't _want_ to live without you."

Hope surged within me. "So you'll take me back?" I asked.

She smiled softly. "Is that even a question?"

Overcome with joy, I pulled her in for another kiss.

She broke it a moment later.

"But if you ever break my heart again, I'll break your fingers."

I laughed and hugged her to me, resting my chin on her head.

"I don't doubt that for one second, Roza. And I wouldn't have it any other way."

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><p><em>Originally, the ending was going to be TOTALLY different, but then my best friend read it and told me that she liked this ending better than the other one xD so this is how it ended up, and I hope that you guys liked it :)<em>

_Let me know your thoughts in a review :) say whatever's on your mind, bad or good! I need to know if this needs improvement or not :P_

_Please check out some of my other oneshots in the VA category, like "Slipping Through My Fingers" or "Oh Darling" and also check out some of my other stories :) I mostly write for Vampire Academy, but I have written for a few other series as well :P so please check me out, and also be on the lookout for two new oneshots that I'll have up soon, which are both gonna be songfics based on the songs "Wish You Were Here" by Avril Lavigne and "Just A Kiss" by Lady Antebellum :D_

_Anyways, I'll let you all go now :) but please review and check out my other stuff! Oh, and if you want an easy way to contact me, add "Sarah Ozera Fanfiction" on facebook :) I post lost of stuff there, and it's a lot easier to communicate that way :) plus, I'm going to be posting the alternate ending to this oneshot on there shortly, so if you wanna see that, check me out!_

_Toodles!_

_~ Sar ~_


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